The Bestest Little Girl In The World
by The Humbug
Summary: Summary: What if Kim was the second daughter of the Drs. P? This is a oneshot KimShego story, but as sisters, not lovers. There is a little ‘What If?’ here, but not too much. I was inspired by the drawings ‘Little Shego’ by Jiattmay and ‘Shego Possible’ b


The Bestest Little Girl In The World

Author: The Humbug

Disclaimer: "Kim Possible" and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within. You can blame the rest on me.

Rating: Rated-T

Summary: What if Kim was the second daughter of the Drs. P? This is a one-shot Kim/Shego story, but as sisters, not lovers. There is a little 'What If?' here, but not too much. I was inspired by the drawings 'Little Shego' by Jiattmay and 'Shego Possible' by Red Koneko; you can see these images for yourself at their respective Deviant Art pages. Any action or adventure is purely accidental and there will be NO romance (there are other websites for that sort of thing). My only hope is that you consider this a darn good story!

Chapter One / Signs And Portents

"Anne, come out here, quick!"

The redheaded woman was so startled by the appearance of her husband's face in the kitchen window that she dropped the dish back into the soapy water. She grabbed a towel to dry her hands and face and walked out onto the rear deck to see what was so urgent. The night was clear and bright, each little star shone like a diamond.

"See? There, over the hill!" Just able to make out her husbands silhouette in the darkness, Anne joined him and followed his pointing finger, directed at something just shy of infinity.

"The comet, John? Really, you'd think that I'd never seen one before!" Anne leaned against the taller form of her spouse and rested an arm around his waist. Far off on the horizon was a smear of celestial matter; barely visible as the sun, shining from around the globe, illuminated its tail.

"It's the same one that we've been watching at the center for months." He turned to face her. "We've seen that thing from the front, the back, upside down, inside out, and every which way but loose… but only from the business ends of deep radar and telescopes." He returned his wife's light embrace and sighed.

"I could give you the molecular composition and spectrum-analysis readings backwards and forwards, but I've never just looked at it like this until tonight."

"It's beautiful, John." She reached up to kiss him on the cheek. "I love you."

"And I love you… whoa!" They were both caught off guard as the galactic wanderer brilliantly flashed like a strobe.

"John? What was that?"

"It may have broken up, stress fractures might have been cleaved by exposure to tides from the Earth or the Sun!" Anne heard the familiar excitement in his voice as he released her and turned to run back into the house, but then he stopped.

"I… I will have to call the center, but nothing that's been traveling around out there is nearly as important to me as you are." John drew his wife tight to him and whispered into her ear.

"Make a wish."

"But, that's for stars, darling!"

"I don't care. We've been hoping for so long, how can it hurt?" His eyes gazed down into hers and he kissed her forehead.

"Then you know what I'll wish for. " Anne closed her eyes and wished for that which they'd both been wanting since they were married. "I wish…"

Several more peaceful minutes were spend on that deck as they watched the comet continue it's trek across the stars, leaving a few passing kisses behind for our planet.

"Will any of them hit near here?"

"Hmm? Near Middleton? No, dearest, they'll likely impact several hundred miles away, that's if they don't burn up in the atmosphere first."

"Gee, so much for 'Captain Romance'! Go ahead, make your phone call!" Anne grinned and pushed her husband towards the house. One last kiss, and they returned to their usual routines. Later that evening, clear across the country, in one of the bedroom communities surrounding a large mid-western city, tragedy struck from the sky.

It was three days later when John Possible returned home from the space center and fuel propulsion laboratory with a pained look on his face. Anne was used to his quiet ways, but this was unusual; he practically avoided her as he entered the house and walked into his study. She had been home from the hospital for several hours and was preparing their evening meal, and John usually took a few minutes to unwind first, but she decided to see if anything was wrong.

John was in his chair behind his desk, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. All of his artifacts to the gods of technology were turned off and quiet; Anne had never been in this room when there wasn't some program running or calculation being automatically tabulated. Never a man to ignore the presence of his loving wife, he turned his chair to meet her gaze.

He held out his hand and beckoned her to the chair; he placed her in his lap, not a usual act for them. Anne was shocked and slightly frightened to see that he had been crying.

"John! What's the matter?" He didn't reply with words, but handed her a scrap of newsprint from the briefcase sitting open on the desk. He let her take it and she scanned the text of the story.

"Meteor strike… residential area… family of seven, parents and five children… one survivor, a three year old girl… Oh, no, John, not the comet?" Sadness laced her voice.

"Yes, the comet. A fragment impacted in the backyard of the family's home, apparently vaporized a tree with a tree house in it, knocked the house flat and started a fire that killed anyone not already dead." John raised one hand and placed it over his eyes.

"After our wish…"

Anne set down the piece of paper and removed the hand from her husband's face.

"Oh, no you don't, John Possible! We are not responsible for what happened here. You just erase that thought from your head right now, mister!"

"I know that… it's just so tragic and after our wish I just can't shake the feeling that it's all connected somehow." He looked up into her eyes, searching for what? Understanding? Forgiveness?

"Well, if you want to feel guilt over this, blame me."

"You?"

"I made the wish, didn't I? Maybe my wish dragged an enormous chuck of ice and rock thousands of miles closer to the planet and made it fragment and kill those poor people!" Anne knew how he felt, but they would never, EVER want to gain their heart's desire in exchange for this terrible event.

"Honey, that's foolish!"

"Doy!" Anne rapped him firmly on the head. "And since I know that your PhDs didn't come out of a box of 'Cracker Jacks', I'm glad you finally realized that yourself!" Anne lifted herself from her spouses lap and walked out of the room, calling back to him over her shoulder as she did so. "Come to dinner when you're ready."

John sat there for several more minutes before he left the study to embrace his wife in a long impassioned kiss.

The idea might have planted itself in Anne's mind that day when John returned home so saddened, she never could recall when it first came to her. Nevertheless, it was just over a month later when she asked her husband if he was aware of the condition of the surviving daughter. They were sharing a peaceful breakfast and Anne sensed that this was as good time as any to broach the subject.

"Why, yes, I do know." John suppressed a pang of guilt over having been reading the follow-up news stories about the little girl. "Apparently she's Ok, aside from an odd epidermal pigment reaction."

"Is she with relatives?"

"Unfortunately, no. It seems that there aren't any other family members and she's been a ward of the state since that day. She spent a few days in a local hospital for observation and treatment of minor abrasions, but otherwise, she'd supposedly healthy."

"Been keeping track, huh?" Anne mocked her husband, just a little.

"Hm, well, yes." His jaw set in feigned anger. "You seem awfully curious."

"There have been a few reports in some of the specialist journals that we get at the hospital, but nothing explicit about her situation, other than her skin condition."

John set aside his coffee.

"Anne, why are we talking about this?" For a brilliant man, her husband could be a little slow.

"Remember what you said that afternoon in the study, about our wish?"

"Yes, of course."

"What if we look at events from a different perspective? What if our wish was a direct result of the tragedy?"

"What are you saying?"

"John, we've been trying to have a child for years now. I think that with a few doctorates between us we're smart enough to realize that it's not likely to happen." Anne hated to see the sorrow that briefly flashed across John's face; they dearly wanted a child of their own.

"She doesn't have anybody left to love her, to care for her." Anne returned to John's lap for the first time in weeks and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Do you have any idea how difficult what you're proposing will be?" John might have been posing for a spot on Mt. Rushmore, his face was so stoic and his back so straight. Anne felt herself wither slightly; why would John resist this idea?

"No, I really don't."

"Well, I do." Holding her tight with one arm, he reached into his briefcase and withdrew a sheaf of papers from both the state run facility where the little girl had been staying and the state government itself.

"I had these faxed to me a few days ago; there would be a few interviews and we'd have to wait while a review board looks over our petition, but otherwise I've been assured that our chances are pretty high."

Anne was too stunned to speak; eventually she didn't even try. She locked her mouth around that of her husband's and they let their breakfast get cold.

Three weeks later, John and Anne Possible were driving to meet the little girl that would likely become their daughter. Though the review process was almost complete, the state demanded that there be a supervised interaction between prospective parents and child. While neither felt the least bit of regret over their decision, there was a bit of anxiety over how the meeting might go.

"Oh, John, what if she hates me?" Anne hadn't been this nervous since she'd taken her medical exams.

"She'll love you, it's me that she'll hate." John grinned at his wife, but more to mask his own feelings of trepidation. "Relax, this isn't an easy process for any of us, especially her. We'll take things slow and easy."

The facility was clean and neat and there were signs of happy, healthy children everywhere. While the traditional concept of an 'orphanage' might bring negative images to some people, the primary function of this place was to look after children who had been removed from their homes for their own safety, usually just until a relative came to take over the care the child. It was unusual for any child to remain here for too long. The director was a kindly woman who asked to speak alone with them before bringing the young girl in.

"Her parents were good people who looked towards the future as far as their children were concerned; she attended a good day care center and tested quite high for intelligence and aptitude."

"My wife and I are glad to hear that, but we just want to give her a good home, regardless of how bright she is."

"Of course. You and your wife hold impressive credentials, so I'm certain that she'll benefit from an excellent education. There will be a trust held for her when she enters college; it's her inheritance from her deceased parents." Though there were just the three of them in the room, the director leaned closer and lowered her voice.

"My point is that she'd suffered the sudden loss of her father, her mother, and her four brothers; this could stunt the development of any child, no matter how smart. I beg that you be patient with her."

Anne spoke up for the first time since their initial introductions.

"Certainly. John and I will do all we can to make her happy."

"Very good!" The older woman beamed at them. "And now, one last thing; you're aware of her skin condition?"

"Yes, at least in that we know her skin color is very pale." The older woman nodded at this.

"Pale, almost dead white with a greenish cast to it, to be precise. And her black hair has green highlights when the light hits it. Ironically, she already had the most beautiful set of emerald green eyes. The skin itself isn't damaged and her general health was unaffected, though since it is a type of induced albinism, she does have a few special dietary requirements."

John and Anne shared a look.

"If it's all the same, we've known all this since our correspondence weeks ago. Can we please meet her now?"

"Of course. Well, if you're ready, I'll have her bought in." The director relaxed; these seemed to be the right people to care for her charge. She stood and smiled at them, moving to the doorway and speaking to her assistance outside.

"Please have Sheila Gordon brought down."

There was a short wait before a gentle knock was heard and the assistant escorted a small girl into the room. Regardless of the newspaper report weeks ago, Sheila Gordon was not quite three years old, and rather chubby for her age. Her plump little arms and legs were dressed in a simple blue dress and her angel face was framed by the fullest head of black hair that either Possible had ever seen for a child that young.

The angel face had a haunted look, however, and downcast eyes. The director held back, motioning to the Possibles that they should introduce themselves without being too assertive. John went first by simply sitting down on the floor.

"Hello, Sheila, my name is John."

"SHEGO!" The tiny girl pierced him with glaring eyes, chubby fingers balled into fists. The Possibles didn't react except for two expectant looks at the director.

"Apparently that's all she was ever called at home; most likely it was based on her earliest attempts to say her own name." Nodding, John held out his hand to the girl.

"Will you shake my hand? Can we be friends?" The little girl looked back to the director for assurance, which was quickly given. Shego didn't move any closer, but she did raise her arm as if to take his proffered hand. She stopped as soon as her eyes caught the sight of her pale green skin.

The tiny arm was shaken as if to cast off the offending color, and the little girls face grew more and more agitated, a whine building in the back of her throat. Shaking her head from side to side, Sheila Gordon threw up her hands and began to run around the room, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

When she eventually slowed down, she noticed Anne sitting on the floor also.

"My, but don't you have the prettiest hair!"

Shego glowered at the woman; little fists were held tight against her side, mouth pinched in an angry frown. Anne didn't waiver, but instead removed her jacket and rolled up the sleeve of her blouse past her elbow.

"I have a boo-boo, right here." Anne pointed to a spot above her elbow, the skin was indented in the form of a very old, badly healed childhood scar.

"Do you have a boo-boo?" This served to distract the child from her unfocused anger and she slowly nodded her head.

She raised her arms and opened her fingers, displaying the pale skin that she awoke with one morning in the hospital weeks ago when a loud noise from the sky took her family away. Anne held out her hands and Shego edged closer, eventually taking them in hers. Anne made a show of marveling over Shego's black tresses and she let the little girl run chubby fingers through her own red hair.

Anne risked everything by pulling the little girl into her lap, but waited for a reaction before daring to hold the child. Shego didn't resist, but didn't relax either. Anne looked up at the director, who was wiping a tear from her eyes. The older woman bent down and looked at Shego.

"Sweetheart, would you like to take your nap now?"

Shego nodded, but reached down to tug at one of Anne's arms, lifting it and draping it across her legs. Anne was glad that the little girl couldn't see her face because right now she was crying and John was doing his best not to show any emotions that could be misinterpreted.

"Can we tuck her into bed?" The man knew that this might not be permitted.

"Yes, but only due to her special circumstances." Seeing their questioning looks, the director clarified, "I'll explain later."

Lifting the little girl to her feet, Shego was led back upstairs to her room; they asked Shego to show them her bed so that they could let her take the lead and show them where she slept. One of the caregiver's undressed the little girl while the Possible's stood to one side.

"The other children avoided her after awhile, simply due to her skin color. She seemed eager enough to play and interact with them, but since they're all strangers and she misses her brothers, well, she's been alone." The director gestured around them at the small but private room with its bed and toys.

"We gave her this special place all to herself, but she desperately needs a family."

"Oh, John, she's perfect, can we please…" her voice broke and she glanced back to the little bed where a tiny girl was watching them. Anne held her husband tight.

"I think that we're sticking to our decision. How do we proceed?" John returned his wife's embrace. The director smiled and took them back downstairs, but not until after Shego received a tender kiss from her new parents.

Chapter Two / Home Is Where You Hang Your Hat

It had been only a few weeks ago since that afternoon at the state facility where John and Anne Possible first met Sheila Gordon face to face. When the day came to finally bring her to her new home, there were a few rough moments, but nothing out of the ordinary for introducing any adopted child to a new family. The upper loft at the back of the house had been converted into a bedroom and play area for the little girl and with the exception of a brief episode of 'night terrors', Shego settled in nicely.

Anne could not have been a more devoted and loving mother; John made it clear to the little girl that they would be there to take care of her no matter what. New games and traditions were started, some rules and discipline established, and there was soon a happy little girl running around the Possible home.

"Mommy! Daddy says he not play with me!" The chubby face pouted up at her mother with an expression that only a puppy dog should have; it was a look that Shego had quickly learned from her new mother, but one that her father seemed immune to.

"And why not?" Anne slipped on her lab coat and crouched down to match her daughter's height.

"He got 'kwazees' and 'co-fishes'!"

"Well, you go back and remind your father what us girls think about all those equations and coefficients, Ok?"

"Kay!" The pale girl gave her mother a big hug and ran back to the study. She stopped herself at the door and carefully knocked rather than rushing inside.

"Come in." John had been waiting for the girl to return; in an effort to draw her out of her periodic silences, they'd used her as messengers between themselves on occasion, never saying anything to confuse the girl, but just to get her used to talking to them. It seemed to have worked very well.

"And what can I do for you, young lady?"

"BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!" Shego giggled and smiled as her father sat there with his eyes bugging out and mouth hanging open.

"I'll have you know that this is very important stuff!" John stood and lurked around the desk, blatantly creeping up on the giggling child. He held her in his arms and swung her up and onto his shoulders and they walked back to the kitchen where Anne was expecting them.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes, I'd rather stay here, but my leave is over and there is so much waiting for me at the hospital." She looked up at the emerald eyes shining down at her from John's shoulders. "And so much for me right here! Oh, I don't want to go!"

John bent down to let Anne give Shego a kiss.

"We kay, Mommy!" In the months since Shego entered their lives, the happiest days were when she first started calling them 'Mommy' and 'Daddy'. There was hardly a time when she would revert to the quiet and sullen figure that they'd first encountered.

"I know you will be, Pumpkin. Take good care of Daddy for me!" Anne leaned in to kiss John, Shego reaching out to muss her mother's hair. Anne let the hair stay exactly as it was when she left for work.

John led Shego to the back yard, but only after she ran up to her room to collect her dolly. It was one of those odd bi-species combinations sold under the brand name 'Cuddle Buddies', harmless enough, and Shego's was called a 'Panda-Roo'.

They played a rather one sided game of catch in the back yard, with John missing most of the throws that came his way. He was glad to see that other than adding a few vitamins to his daughter's diet, she was very healthy and had all the makings of being a star athlete some day.

"Hello? John-boy, you back there?" A familiar voice floated over the rear gate.

"We sure are, Drew. Come on back."

The gate opened and a man walked through. He was thinner than her father but was dressed much like John in a conservative white shirt and dark trousers; he also wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses and his black hair was long enough for a small ponytail.

"I just stopped by to see those reports, and…" His eyes found the little chubby girl standing behind her father's leg. "Well, hello, Princess!"

Drew Lipsky didn't have a natural affinity for children, but knew better than to scare one; he walked over and sat down on the edge of the rear deck while John and Shego walked over to him.

"It's Ok, Pumpkin, you can say 'Hi' to Drew if you want."

The little girl clutched her dolly to her chest and slowly moved up to the stranger. Drew knew about the recent addition to the Possible family, as did all of their friends and coworkers, but he was seeing the girl for the first time. Her coloration was different, but not that odd and certainly didn't make her one inch less of the pretty little thing she was.

"My name is Drew Lipsky! Is that your doll?" This earned him a careful nod.

"I'm this many." Three pudgy fingers were held up to the man.

"Well, that's old! I'm this many." Drew held up both hands and wiggled all ten fingers several times; this earned him a shy smile.

"What's your doll's name?" Shego moved closer the held the doll out to him.

"Panda-Roo?" Her hesitancy made the answer sound like a question. He accepted the doll, but placed it at the edge of the deck next to him. Shego slowly walked over and sat down on the opposite side of the dolly from the man. Drew and John exchanged grins at seeing the girl feeling this comfortable.

"So, how's Anne doing?"

"Very well. She's back at work today."

"Man, that's a bi… shame! That's a real shame." Drew covered his mouth at his faux pas and sheepishly mouthed 'Sorry' back up at John; Shego's father relaxed after his breath had caught in his throat and he motioned to signify that it was Ok.

"She's a cutie, this one. She seems really happy, too."

"She sure is." John smiled at how his daughter, having grown bored already with this exchange between the two adults, was kicking her little legs back and forth and signing to herself. "Let's get you those reports."

The three went into the house and to John's study; his job, unlike that of his wife, allowed him to work from home in a way that she could not.

"Thanks, Johnny, this is exactly what we're expecting to see." Drew shuffled the printouts and scanned the data. "Mark my words, one day men like us will harness forces that the world barely understands right now."

"How many times have we said that before? 'Drew The World Saver', that's you!"

"Hey, 'save', 'control', whatever…" Drew noticed that Shego was still nearby, observing everything that the men said and did. He lowered himself to one knee.

"You'd help me take over the world, right?" The chubby girl pursed her lips and shook her head in negation. Drew made himself look stricken.

"You won't? Why not?"

"Gotta go potty." Drew accepted that answer with good grace.

"Sounds like a good enough reason to me!" He reached back to shake John's hand. "This sounds like my cue to split. You three take care and I'll see you back at the center in a few days."

Drew Lipsky was allowed to kiss Panda-Roo on the head and Shego gave him a shy wave as he walked back to his car. When Shego was placed at the table for her lunch, John simply watched her eat and marveled at how much joy such a tiny, little girl could bring into their lives. He found that he agreed with Anne on her assessment that maybe they were selected to care for this little miracle after she'd lost so much so early in life.

A year came and went; Shego's birthday was the high point and lasted an entire week. Not wanting to lavish the child with too many toys, they took her all over the state to events and fairs and to plays and museums and showed her more sites than her little eyes would take in. There some tears also, from time to time, but Shego was a well-behaved child and the Possibles didn't think of themselves as being anything other than blessed.

It was early one evening when everyone's life changed.

John arrived home from the center at his normal time, entering the house to find the two most important women in his life making dinner in the kitchen. The aroma of meat and spices filled the rooms.

"Mmm, what's that I smell? Is it meatloaf?" Shego ran over and wrapped her arms around his legs, looked up and bared her teeth in a snarl.

"BRAINS!"

"Honestly, John, I will never understand why you let her watch those disgusting films with you! Rampaging zombies… how she can sleep at night I'll never know." Anne wiped her hands clean with a kitchen towel. "Now she won't even eat meatloaf unless we shape it like a human brain."

Anne bent down and kissed Shego on the forehead.

"Now, little lady, you… you go… and…" Anne's knees folded and she reached out to steady herself, harmlessly sending a used mixing bowl clattering to the floor. She landed on her side, her legs tangled and scaring the Hell out of her husband and daughter.

"ANNE!"

"MOMMY!"

Anne found her voice after just a few seconds, already feeling twelve times the fool for falling over like that; she couldn't explain herself and they ran to her, holding her, while she caught her breath and could speak to them.

"Oh! I don't know what happened there, I just… got so dizzy for a second." She looked fine and said that she felt fine, but John had Shego sit on the floor with her while he called their family doctor.

"John, please don't make a fuss! Really, I feel alright now." She lifted her head from where she'd been resting it atop Shego's own. "You'll frighten her!"

The tiny girls long hair was meshed with that of her mother's, and she cried as she held Anne in her chubby arms.

"Please don't die, Mommy! Please don't die!"

"It's for her that we're doing this. You scared both of us and I want to know you're really Ok." He reached down to touch his daughter's head. "I want her to know, too."

John suggested that Anne consider it payback for scaring them, but he made her go to the hospital emergency room when their doctor suggested it. Making sure that the brain loaf was put in the refrigerator and that the oven was off, they all went to the hospital together. Fair or not to the rest of the patrons, Anne's friends and coworkers made sure that she got sent right in to see the attending physician.

Angry with herself and still feeling foolish, Anne let the nurses look her over carefully as John and Shego walked around the building, taking in the fresh late-evening air.

"Is Mommy gonna die?" Shego walked along a short wall, holding her father's hand for support. Her tears had dried but she looked to her father for assurance and he prayed that he was able to give it to her. They'd been all over the hospital grounds and were both avoiding what might be bad news.

"No, I don't think so, Princess. Mommy's just sick, I guess." Please let that be all it is. "Let's go back in and see her, Ok?"

Most of the emergency room staff were on a first name basis with Anne, so they all knew about the adoption and were aware of what Shego looked like; after some initial curiosity, no one even thought about her coloration anymore. They smiled at the serious look on the little girls face as her father led her back into the hospital. The father and daughter were surprised to hear the attending physician speaking to Anne in a raised voice.

"Calling me in here, making me worry, and for what?" With a snort of derision, the doctor brushed past John, briefly turning to offer some decidedly non-medical advice.

"John take this woman home and give her a swift kick in the pants, will you?"

Anne was dressed and sitting on the examination table, apparently ready to go home, looking chagrined and avoiding John's direct gaze.

"Honey, what's going on?" She finally looked at him and smiled, a rosy blush suffusing her entire face.

"I'm pregnant."

"Is Mommy kay?"

John's brilliant mind needed a moment to wrap itself around this information, but once it did he walked to his wife and lifted her from the table, holding her to his chest so tight that her feet were well off the floor.

"Your Mommy's just fine, Pumpkin. Just fine." They left the hospital together and after a very late meal her parents explained to Shego that she was going to have a baby brother or sister.

"Gonna buy her?" The little girl didn't quite understand. The Possible's laughed at their inability to properly explain what was going on to their daughter. They tried again.

"Snowman Hank gonna bring her?" Anne lifted her daughter onto her lap and took the girls hands in her own, placing them on Anne's stomach.

"Now you know that it could be a brother or a sister, right?"

"SISTER!" The pale, greenish child was adamant.

"Regardless, the baby is right here, in Mommy's tummy."

Shego's eyes became huge and she stared long and hard at her mother. Then she jumped down and ran around the room screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Are you sure that our degrees didn't come from a box of 'Cracker Jacks'?"

"I blame you and those horrible movies."

"MOMMY ATE THE BABY!"

For all of her problems conceiving, Anne's pregnancy was textbook perfect. Shego quickly calmed down and all three of them looked forward to the newest member of the Possible family. John and Anne waited until well after Shego had been tucked into bed before they had a particular discussion.

"John, we are happy about this baby, aren't we?" Anne was on the couch reviewing her notes for a JAMA article she was writing, her legs were drawn up and she was dressed for bed. John folded his paper across his lap and smiled.

"Well, I sure am! We tried for how long? You couldn't have made me a happier man."

"You do realize that this will be our second child, don't you?"

"Sure, after all…" Comprehension dawned. "Oh, I see what you're getting at."

John left his chair and sat on the floor beside his wife, slightly lower that eye level to her. He placed his hand on her belly, slightly rounded from the developing live within.

"This is the baby that we've tried to have for so long, but that beautiful little miracle in the bedroom upstairs is the bestest little girl in the world, and we'll never let her feel otherwise, right?"

Anne nodded, suddenly finding tears in her eyes.

"Right. Am I a terrible mother for feeling this way? For not putting our own child first?"

"Yes, you are a terrible, terrible mother." John let her whack him in the head with her cushion as hard as she pleased. Then she kissed him.

"They are both our children, regardless of who bore Shego and cared for her the first three years of her life. You could never be less of a mother to her if you tried, and this little one," John kissed her stomach, "will only make this family a better one."

"If we can make this family any better, we'll have achieved the impossible!" Anne looked at her husband; no sooner had she said this than he'd gotten a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"Honey, you've given me an idea for a name. How does this sound…?"

Kim Possible, full name Kimberly Ann Possible, was born six months later to proud parents John and Anne Possible and big sister Shego Possible. The labor was not overlong and both mother and child were resting comfortably.

Upon bringing the baby home, the house was quickly besieged with guests and relatives, all wanting to fawn and coo and marvel at the child. Shego's Grandmother Nana and Uncle Slim stopped by, as well as the many friends and neighbors. Often finding the house a little too crowded for his tastes, John would take Shego out into the backyard and play catch until things quieted down.

Some of this was very confusing for Shego, and a little intimidating, but every night she got to be the big sister and read a story from one of her 'Little Golden Books' to the sleeping infant. Shego was allowed to participate in as many child-care activities as her parents thought that she could, and no one in the extended Possible family would have even dared to think of her as being 'less' than a full member of the family.

It could be argued that she was more so, because she was chosen.

When a new baby enters a household, however, there can be many difficulties for the older sibling who, up to now, had the full attention of their parents; it was no less difficult for Shego. Sometimes she would ask if the baby could be returned, or if they could trade her for a monkey, but John and Anne weathered these well enough. There was also the occasional tantrum when it was even hinted that little Kim might be able to wear some of Shego's clothes when she got older, but these were also handled with tender loving care.

For the most part, Shego liked being the big sister, and would often hold little Kim across her pudgy legs, making up nonsensical stories and jokes and singing tuneless songs to the infant. Shego loved her mother's beautiful red hair, so she was entranced when Kim's hair also proved to be the same fiery color. Kim also seemed entranced by Shego's long mane of midnight-black hair, and was far too young to notice their different skin tone; but Shego noticed.

Something else was about to happen that no one could have foreseen.

One morning Shego was out in the yard playing 'gardener'. This mostly involved mud pies and very little actual gardening, but while she was pretending to plant some flowers a bee stung her.

It was not clear if the same event that resulted in Shego's change of skin color also affected her overall physical makeup, but the little girl rarely became sick or got infections or even an earache. She didn't have any allergies and would likely not be adversely affected by the sting. The bee landed on her hand and, deciding that he was a threat, promptly drove its venom-laden stinger into the soft flesh.

Reacting more from fear than pain, Shego felt her rage spike in her head and her tiny hands were suddenly covered in a layer of cascading green flame. The bee vanished in a greasy puff of smoke. Shego was entranced for a few seconds before she thought to become frightened; she stood up and ran to the house, shaking both hands and screaming.

Both parents happened to be downstairs and they met her at the patio door. The little girl barely noticed that the green flames had gone out and through ragged tears she simply told her parents that a bee had stung her. She was coddled and her wounded hand tended to, and she was brought into the living room to watch cartoons while little Kim played in the playpen.

The worst event stemming from Kim's arrival was the night that Shego couldn't locate Panda-Roo. Her parents helper her look all over the house but they didn't find it anywhere. When bedtime came, they asked her to be strong and she promised that she would, even though it would be her first night without the beloved toy beside her. Let it be known that there was no plan or duplicity on behalf of her parents; they truly did not know where Panda-Roo was.

Getting up later after a few restless hours, Shego tottered to the bathroom and drank a cup of water. She tip toed back to her bedroom, but took a detour through Kim's room to check on her baby sister. The door was always kept open and the little night-light kept the room bathed in an amber glow. Shego glanced around the room to see if Panda-Roo was here and, not seeing him, walked to the crib to see how Kim was doing.

Kim was fast asleep, Panda-Roo leaning against the opposite side of the crib, watching over her like he used to do for Shego.

The pale child could not have explained her feelings if she had tried, but the anger and betrayal flared within her as it only can to a five year old. The amber glow from the night-light was suddenly competing against a bright green glow from Shego's hands as she gripped the side of the crib in her childish anger.

The side of the crib caught fire, smoldering under her hands. Shego backed away in shock and terror, but the fire from her hands had been too hot this time, the contact with the crib too prolonged; the wood burned freely and quickly spread to the blankets.

Scared though she was, Shego didn't run away immediately; she ran to the crib and did her best to avoid the flames in an attempt to pull Kim out. This fire was hot and reddish yellow, not like the green on her hands; it would burn Shego as eagerly as it would anyone. The five year old grabbed onto her baby sister's bedclothes and tugged her out of the crib to safety.

It was only when the red-haired infant screamed in pain that Shego saw that her hands were still glowing with a green fire of their own. Kim's bedclothes were badly burned from Shego's touch and the exposed skin beneath looked red and raw. It was at this point that several things happened at once.

The flames from the blankets reached the curtains and they burst into flame as if they were woven from match sticks, Shego's resolve broke and she started to yell for her parents, and the smoke detector inside the room became alive with noise and light.

"DADDY! MOMMY!"

John staggered into the room and his instincts took over; he pulled Shego and Kim out by whatever part of them he could most easily grab and handed them to Anne, who had also run across the hallway to see to her family's safety. He then found the fire extinguisher that he'd placed beside the door and worked to put out the fire.

Anne took the children outside and inspected them for damage; she saw that little Kim had received a bad burn across her upper back and began treating the area as best she could with the items she'd kept in the first aide kit from the kitchen. When the fire and rescue squad arrived minutes later in response to the automated dispatch they'd received, Anne let the paramedics take a closer look at her youngest daughter.

The flames were really quite minor and the fire stopped well before the home was in danger of being lost, but since the crib itself had been on fire, not to mention the risk of smoke inhalation, the dangers had been all too real and had the smoke detector somehow failed to operate, Kim could have died if not for Shego. When both Anne and John could finally get Shego to stop crying, they asked her to tell them what had happened. It was at this point that Shego told her first intentional lie.

She told them that she'd gone for a glass of water, had seen flames in Kim's room, and had gone inside to see if she could help.

Her parents had absolutely no cause to think that anything other that this could be the true story. John had seen Kim in Shego's arms when he'd entered the room, so they had no reason not to believe her. Later, when the room was inspected, the plastic casing of the light-light was found to be badly melted, lending credence to the idea that it had been the culprit.

The Possibles decided that they needed to get away from the house for a short time; this would allow repairs to be made to the baby's room and for them to all relax after this near-tragedy. They made a long road-trip west to stay with John's brother for a few days, then down south to see grandma Nana.

Before they left, Shego begged her mother to take Panda-Roo, slightly scorched and smelling of smoke, and give the doll to Kim to be her very own. Anne was reticent, but John felt that Shego was too close to feeling as if she'd almost lost her family all over again, so the dolly remained in Kim's possession for the rest of her childhood.

Shego also demanded that Kim sleep in her room from now on, and from that day there were few moments when little Kim wasn't under the protection of her big sister.

Chapter Three / Secrets

It was Saturday and John was enjoying his morning coffee before driving out to the center; he'd once dreamed that if he ever became project administrator that he could sit back and rest on his laurels, but the truth was that there was no rest for the wicked.

Anne was about to leave for her rounds at the hospital and she'd offered to drive the girls to the school for Kim's cheerleading try-outs; everybody was busy today, be it a weekend or not.

"Girls! Breakfast!" Kim was the first downstairs, her red pigtails flapping all over the place. She was now an energetic twelve years old and was showing signs that she was eventually going to blossom into as beautiful a young woman as her mother was, much to John's dismay. Kim had more energy than two girls her age, and some days it seemed as if she could do anything.

Already dressed in her junior varsity cheerleader's outfit, the redhead chewed her toast with her mouth half open, crumbs falling back on her plate; these served to absorb the orange juice that ran down her chin from the mouthful she'd taken from her glass.

"Nice, Princess. Slob much?" Shego ambled into the kitchen, stopping to kiss each parent and accept the science and technology section from the paper, which her father handed to her. The baby fat having long since been lost over time, the raven-haired, pale skinned child had grown into a tall and lean sixteen-year-old young woman of exotic appearance and unearthly beauty. It was this more than anything else that added a few more gray hairs to John temples.

Kim stuck out a food-encrusted tongue at her older sister, who promptly stuck out her own tongue, then reached over to undo one of Kim's pigtails.

"MOM!"

"Oh, Kimmie-cub, relax. That was cute!"

Anne was used to how the girls would fight and also knew that most of the time Shego was run ragged by Kim's high-strung antics; if the older girl could get a lick in once or twice, more power to her.

As his wife repaired Kim's hair, John smiled to himself about his girls. At first glance, they seemed as different as night and day, but he knew better. He'd seen how Shego had watched out for and protected her little sister all these years, and how she'd stood up to school yard bullies when Kim would get into a scuffle. He'd also seen Kim step up and get right in the face of anyone foolish enough to call Shego 'spooky chick' or 'ghost'.

Shego was the calm to Kim's storm; the pale girl was wearing one of her favorite outfits, a midriff-bearing shirt and loose fitting cargo pants, both in a green and black harlequin pattern that Shego favored. She had long since gotten over the childhood stigma of the color of her skin and hair, and didn't mind showing a little more of it than John was comfortable with now that she was older and attending high school.

Shego read her paper and sipped her cocoa, mirroring her father with his coffee, and her long black hair fell almost to the floor.

"Shego…" It didn't hurt to reinforce a little parental reminder now and then.

"Sorry, Dad."

"And what are your plans for today?"

"I thought that I'd go to the library while Kimber-dweeb," Shego cocked a thumb at her scowling sister, "tried out for a spot on the 'fat girls' squad…"

"I AM NOT FAT!"

"… and looked into a few colleges. Somewhere with a strong science and math curriculum." John sighed; time went by so fast.

"Not going out for sports?"

"No, they just don't interest me as much anymore." Shego looked slightly downfallen and John could sympathize.

Both of their girls had gotten plenty of exercise growing up, and they always played well in whatever athletic events that they'd joined. They were very healthy and strong young women, but Kim's social nature had led her towards group activities and eventually cheerleading, while Shego's natural tendencies to be a loaner kept her from making many friends. Her inner circle consisted mostly of her family.

"Maybe she wants to find a school with lots of BOYS!" Kim snorted and finished her juice. Shego made a scowl of her own but didn't react otherwise.

"Kimmie-cub…"

"Sorry, Dad."

Anne returned with her satchel of paperwork and shooed the girls out of the house before things could deteriorate into a real fight. Before she left, John got her attention.

"Anne, hang on a moment, would you? I want to have a word in private." Seeing that the girls walked right out to the car, Anne stayed behind.

"I can guess what it is that you want to talk about."

"She is sixteen, after all; we can't just never tell her."

"Well, doy!" Anne smiled and took his hands. "We always planned to tell her the truth, it just always seemed years away, didn't it?"

"When should we do it? Tonight?"

"How about during or after dinner? Let's wait until we're all sitting down and then we tell them both." Anne felt confident about this and John agreed. She kissed him goodbye and got to the car just before the name calling turned into actual blows.

Arriving at the main entrance at the school, Kim hardly waited for the car to stop before she was out the door and running towards the athletic field. She waved goodbye to her mother and didn't notice the tiny wave that Shego gave her, or the sotto voce 'Good luck'. Anne turned to look at Shego before the older girl got out of the car.

"So you really are going to the library, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. Why?"

"Not really sneaking off to see some boy, right?" Shego's look of shock was more due to her mother's insight than anything else.

"Well, NO, if you have to ask." There was a darker shade of green under her eyes; it was how she blushed.

"Hey, don't sell your old Mom short, Pumpkin. I used to be your age once upon a time, and I had many a gentleman caller in my day, let me tell you." Anne grinned mischievously at her older daughter's discomfort.

"I am finding a happy place right now!" Shego covered her ears with her hands and shut her eyes tight. "LA LA LA LA LA!"

Anne waited patiently until Shego stopped.

"My point is, your Father and I see you alone most of the time and we want you to be happy. For us old timers, happy usually included friends. And that also means boys."

"Yeah, I know, Mom."

"You are a very beautiful young lady and it worries your Father to no end that he can't always be there to watch out for you. I can't either, but it's only that we care so much about you."

"Ok, do you remember when we had 'The Talk'? I was paying attention, you know." Anne signed, realizing that she was forgetting how mature and intelligent Shego was for her age.

"Ok, you're right, enough preaching. Just promise me that if you do have any special friends you won't keep them a secret from us, Ok?" Shego loved her parents deeply but sometimes they could be so square!

"I promise."

"Good. Now, here's enough money to buy you and your sister some lunch at Bueno Nacho. Meet her here after her practice and take the bus home after lunch." Anne kissed her oldest daughter and left her to walk the short distance to the library before driving off to the hospital.

Upon reaching the library, Shego used one of the computers to do some cursory research of colleges all over the country. She really was more interested in math and science than anything else and had thoughts about following in her parents footsteps. She was more than a little hesitant to leave Kim behind, but while the old memory of the fire was just slightly faded in her mind, her little sister was becoming more than capable of taking care of herself.

She was also concerned about money, specifically college expenses. Schools cost so much these days, it was difficult for her mind to envision how she would pay for it. Being the child of two professionals, Shego knew that her family was very well off, but they were by no means rich. Her father had never expressed a concern over the cost of tuition, but Shego didn't know how their family could afford it. So she'd been looking into scholarships.

One phenomenon of the Internet is how one link on one website can lead you down a path that takes you far away from your intended destination. Since Shego had done some summer intern work at her Dad's job, she looked into their scholarship program. From there, she selected a link of former scholarship recipients and from there she found herself scrolling down a column of images. She smiled at an old picture of her father standing arm in arm with Drew Lipsky.

Wondering how Uncle Drew was these days, Shego opened another Browser and 'Googled' her Dad's best friend from college. She hadn't seen Uncle Drew in over five years and was shocked to see that her Internet search turned up page after page of sites that mentioned his name.

She was even more shocked to see that none of them were for anything good. She noted comments claiming 'flawed research' and 'falsified data' and 'unsafe practices'. It also became apparent that he'd long since been fired from her Dad's center and that his credentials had been revoked.

The real kicker was when she found a recent image file. The man she'd first met when she was three years old hadn't changed too much in the intervening years; not quite as skinny, the glasses were gone, the hair a little longer and the ponytail a little fuller.

The only drastic change was that he was blue. The image was of Lipsky apparently recovering from some sort of industrial accident; there was a deep laceration beneath his left eye and the text read that the man had apparently been experimenting on himself when the accident occurred.

Shego had never seen anyone with blue skin before. She chided herself that, of course, no one had ever seen anyone with REAL blue skin before, just makeup or special effects. Glancing around the library, Shego could spot several folks, each and every one with skin that ranged from pink to tan to brown to black, each one natural and normal.

She looked at her own fingers on the keyboard and wondered if Uncle Drew would have a better understanding of how she felt sometimes; of how different and alone she sometimes felt.

The most recent news report said that Drew Lipsky had attempted to start his own independent research laboratory, but that it's prospects were dubious. There was very little research done on schools that morning.

At a few minutes to Noon, a quiet and thoughtful Shego was almost bowled over by her younger sister when they met in from of the deserted school.

"I'm in, I'm in! They had me do some routines and I got in!" Kim was bouncing up and down with joy, and had impressed Shego with no less than five cartwheels.

"Way to go, Kimmie." Although to admit it would make Kim laugh at her, Shego was very proud of her little sister's accomplishments.

"I can do anything, because anything is possible for a Possible!"

"Calm down, Kimber-dweeb, before you have a stroke." Shego draped her arm casually around Kim's shoulder as they started walking the few blocks to Bueno Nacho. When neither of them remembered to be sisters, they were best friends.

"Uh, Sheeg, why didn't you ever try out for cheerleader?"

"Who says I didn't?"

"Doy! Just everybody!"

"Maybe I didn't like how the uniforms clashed with my skin."

"Maybe you still had too much baby fat!"

"Ghaa! You are a turd!"

"Poopie-head!" Their parents didn't allow harsh language in the house so the two reveled in minor name calling until Kim's limited experience caused her to expend her meager repertoire. When they arrived at Bueno Nacho, Shego was disappointed to see that one of Kim's friends was already there and apparently wanted to sit with them.

"Hey, KP! Hey, Shego."

"Hi, Ron!"

"Whatever."

Kim and Ron talked incessantly of school events and shared friends and other things that just didn't hold Shego's interest; she was feeling especially alienated today, not just because of her appearance, but because she just wasn't seeing the world through he eyes of a child anymore. Her own sister might have come from another planet, for all she knew. Looking down at her own hands again, she admitted that maybe she was the alien.

Lunch was tasty but excruciating with Ron there; the boy kept a hairless rat in his pants, for crying out loud! What's up with that?

The bus ride home was equally rough because there were always folks on the bus that weren't local people, folks that didn't know about Shego and who would stare and point. Kim actually caught one man looking at her older sister with obvious disgust, and she stood up in the aisle and demanded that he "Stop that right NOW or I'll have my Daddy shoot you into a black hole!" Kim got a big hug from an embarrassed Shego when she sat back down.

"Thanks."

"No big! You'd think he'd never seen a FAT girl before."

The tickle attack was so ferocious that Kim almost wet her pants. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Kim doing homework in their shared bedroom and Shego out in the backyard reading an old science fiction novel of her mothers; many of the characters had unusual skin tones.

Before dinner, the older sister made a few diary entries of what she'd learned on the Internet about Drew Lipsky, including the location of his private company.

When their parents arrived home and the family began to interact, the sisters could tell that something was on the minds of their folks; the girls exchanged puzzled looks and shrugs and neither had any idea what it could be about. But, since no one seemed to be actually angry or upset, they figured that they should either ignore it or that it would eventually be explained.

When dinner was served, the tension became more pronounced when John and Anne kept looking at each other and nodding.

"Mom, Dad, is anything wrong?" The two adults suddenly looked as if they'd been caught red-handed in the middle of a crime.

"Um, no, Princess, nothing's wrong!"

Kim had an awful thought.

"You're not getting a divorce are you?"

Anne coughed around a lungful of food and Shego helped her to take a sip of water.

"Heavens, no, Kimmie-cub. Whatever gave you that idea?" As she returned to her seat, Shego supported her younger sister's curiosity.

"You two have been acting awk-weird all through dinner. What's up?"

Anne looked to John and they held each other's hand for strength; John then left the table and walked towards his study while Anne turned to better face both girls. Kim unconsciously reached under the table to take Shego's hand; she found it waiting for hers halfway.

"Your father and I have something to tell you. Now, don't look so worried; it's not a bad thing. Nothing is changing and everything is going to be the same, but…" Anne looked up to John as he returned, wanting some moral support of her own. He held an old manila folder from his file cabinet and he continued for his wife.

"Kimberly, this mostly affects your sister, but we want you to hear this as well." He looked to his oldest daughter. "What is your name?"

"Huh?"

"Please, Princess, humor your old man."

"Shego Possible."

"Your full name, Pumpkin."

"Sheila Gordon Possible." John nodded and opened the folder to reveal several pieces of paper, including one very yellowed scrap of a newspaper article. He handed her a document, which Shego noticed was a copy of her own birth certificate.

"Wait… this just says 'Sheila Gordon' on it. And I've never heard of that hospital; that's not the one here in Middleton."

Next, John handed her the scrap of newsprint.

"Please read this very carefully." She did, and reread several paragraphs over and over. Before she could raise her eyes to the adults for an explanation, one final piece of paper was gently set before her. The words 'Petition For Adoption' were in large and fancy script.

"You were born 'Sheila Gordon' almost three years before we met you. Your father and I had been praying for a child ever since we were married but couldn't have one. Then we heard about a little girl who was suddenly alone in the world and we both wanted to make her ours."

Kim sat there stunned and Shego absorbed all of this.

"Did… did you know them? The Gordons?"

No, but I was able to collect a lot of information that's ready for you anytime you want to see it."

"It says that a meteor hit their house. Is that true? Is that why I'm…" she couldn't finish the question, instead displaying her open hand.

"That seems to be the case, yes. You were very fortunate to have survived; you are our very special girl." John felt his voice breaking.

"The bestest little girl in the world." Anne also felt a lump in her throat.

Shego though about this some more, her brain staying oddly focused considering how much news she'd been given to digest. Then she felt an old, old anxiety rise to the surface.

"Is that why there are no baby pictures of me? I mean, nothing from before I was three or so?" Her parents nodded in affirmation.

"Your mother and I never did have a good answer for you on that one, did we; especially since there are so many of Kim."

"I thought it was, well, because…" Again, she offered her open palm as if to explain.

"No, baby, no!" Anne quickly moved around the table to hold her oldest daughter. "There was nothing about you that we didn't love from the moment we first saw you. After we brought you home, you just seemed to slowly forget your previous life and we wanted nothing more than for you to be our child, so we kind of let you forget."

"That's the truth, Princess. It wasn't until you were almost Kim's age now that we realized that you had no memory of your origins; so we talked about it and your mother and I decided to tell you everything… someday."

Most of the meal was left cold and untouched on the table during the conversation; Shego looked down at what was probably a delicious dinner but didn't feel the least bit hungry any more. She felt sorry for this, because her mother was an excellent cook.

Her mother. Her mother was dead, as was her father and four boys that were her brothers that she would never know. Had she originally had memories of them? Stupid question, really. If I did, she mused, would I even be asking that question? Many other questions presented themselves to her, answers for which she would have needed to get from her parents… from the Possibles… that she would never ask because in her heart she was terrified of how they might answer.

"May I please be excused?" Having absolutely no experience with this, Anne nodded and Shego left the table.

Kim watched her go, the same stunned expression on her face; she started to follow her older sister but her father motioned her to remain.

"Let her go, Kimmie-cub. We've just dropped a bombshell that no one can be fully prepared for."

"But, Dad, she's still…"

"We know, dear. She always was and always will be your sister; just as she'll always be our oldest child."

"Does it bother you to know that I didn't give birth to her myself?"

"Huh? No!"

"Shego just needs to be alone for a time to sort things out." Anne dried her eyes and moved to Shego's chair, sitting down beside their younger daughter.

"Right now Shego is trying to reevaluate her entire life story; if you'll pardon the expression, to sort the truth from the lies. The thing is, there are no lies. Everything that ever happened to her, everyone she knows and our lives together as a family, are all exactly what she knows them to be. But for a little while she's going to feel as if her world has been turned upside down."

"But I want to talk to her, tell her that I still love her!"

"We understand, just be patient, and then you can go to her."

The bedroom loft at the back of the house now seemed like a façade. The question was: what truth was hiding behind the lies? Was any of this really hers, or was she not serving a purpose now that the Possibles had a daughter of their own. Shego lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, watching the evening shadows grow longer as the sun set over the low hills outside.

Alien, different, freak, ugly; all of these words ran through her head, all words that she'd thought about herself at one time or another. They were like Pandora's Furies, all released from the box of poorly healed wounds dating back to the night of fire and noise that killed her original family. Nothing is yours, you don't belong, never did, never will.

For as intelligent a young woman as Shego was, she never realized that the reason these words were being 'spoken' by her own inner 'voice', was because they had never been said, or thought of, by anyone else. Her wounds ran too deep and she'd carried them for far too long.

It was full dark before she heard someone climb the steps and enter the room. No lights were turned on, but she heard someone expertly navigating the room, apparently changing clothes. There was movement by the bed and it shifted as someone climbed on and Shego suddenly found Kim pressed firmly against her, practically laying on top of her. Without thought, Shego draped her arm around the shoulder of her sibling, pulling her close.

The redhead didn't say a word, snuggling against her older sister just as she used to do when they were both much younger. This act, of all others, might have caused the balance to swing in Shego's favor.

Then Shego's fingers touched the old scar across Kim's back; so old and healed that it was barely a ripple in the otherwise perfect skin. With the memories of a terrified five year old superimposed on the present, it felt like a gaping hole. She could also feel the melted fur of Panda-Roo on her chest, apparently brought into the bed by Kim; the synthetic material long since purged of the burnt smell but still carrying his own scars.

Some scars are beneath the skin; those run the deepest and take longer to heal.

They suspect, or they already know; they've always known.

I damaged their perfect little girl. How can they ever forgive me for that?

They won't.

When Kim awoke the next morning, Shego was gone.

Chapter Four / The Mighty Shego

"John, have you seen Shego?" Anne didn't have rounds to make that particular Sunday so her breakfast was going to be a little more elaborate. She hoped that it might serve to cheer her daughter up.

"No, dearest, I haven't, not yet." John didn't have any work today either; he'd dressed in more casual clothes so that some pending housework could be done in the yard and garage, and had also planned to invite Shego to assist him if that would lift her spirits any.

Kim came down to the living room at that moment and they asked her of the whereabouts of her sister.

"I thought she was already down here. She was already up when I got up."

This didn't sit right with any of them, especially not in light of recent events. John confirmed that the two cars were still in the garage and Kim saw that Shego's bike was still there as well. Anne called Shego's cell phone, but was dismayed to hear it ringing in the hallway; the pale girl didn't have it with her.

"But she never goes out without the 'Shegophone'!" John looked at Kim, nonplussed.

"Excuse me? The what?" Kim rolled her eyes and made a snort of exasperation.

"Our cell phones! Mine is the 'Kimmunicator' and hers is the 'Shegophone'. Duh!"

"Yeah, come on, Daddy-o, get with the picture!" In this moment of tension, Anne decided to make a feeble attempt at humor. John rolled his own eyes and smiled weakly.

"Could she have taken a walk?"

Kim ran back upstairs.

"YES! Her favorite pair of walking shoes are gone, and so is her jacket!"

Anne looked at John with a mixture of concern and relief.

"If she's just out for a walk, maybe that's the private time she needs to fit everything back into place? Should we go after her or leave her alone?"

"We… leave her alone. She's a big girl, and smart." John reached out and held his youngest daughter close. "Both of my girls are smart; she'll be fine." John hoped that he was more convincing to them than he was to himself.

After getting an early start, Shego was on the other side of Middleton; she'd walked the whole way but didn't remember more than a few details of her entire trek. Being an early Sunday morning, few people were on the streets to stare at her and laugh, so she felt fortunate that she had that much going for her.

Her destination had been an abandoned strip mall at the other side of town. This was apparently the property leased by Drew Lipsky when he'd been ejected from the propulsion center and had vowed to start his own independent research company. Shego was hoping that he would remember her; that he would be willing to talk to her.

That he would be someone that could understand her now that he was different, too.

The vacant lot was choked with long grasses and weeds thrusting up from between cracked layers of asphalt. Several of the buildings had shattered glass storefronts or roofs that were falling in. One building, however, seemed to be in an unusually good state of repair, even if it had been painted and artificially cluttered to make it appear more like the others. Shego approached the only door and knocked.

The door was opened and an enormous man looked out at her menacingly. He was huge and ugly and his face looked like a clenched fist.

"What?"

"Is… Mr. Lipsky here?"

"No." The door was slammed in her face. Shego made it as far as the end of the block before she turned around and walked back to the door. She knocked again.

"Look, babe, there's no Lipsky here, savvy?" The scary man glowered down at her like she was a piece of meat.

"Please…" Her voice didn't want to obey her. "Please let him that Shego Pos… that Shego is here."

Fist Face looked her up and down and slammed the door again. Shego sank down and sat on her haunches beside the door; it was several minutes before it was opened again. It was the scary man, but he didn't speak to her. Instead, he held the door open wide and another voice came out of the darkness within.

"Shego? Little Shego Possible? Great day in the morning, how are you?" The voice seemed far too happy and light for such dismal surroundings.

"I'm fine, sir."

"Bless my soul, look how you've grown! You know, I once told your father that you were a little princess, and that's just what you've become!"

"Thank… thank you." Was this man the first person to call her that?

"What ever can I do for you?" A voice from the darkness was a little disconcerting, but she decided to venture on regardless.

"I read about you on the Internet."

Silence.

"I read about the accident; I saw your picture afterwards."

More silence.

"Since we're both, you know, different now, I thought…"

"Oh, I know what you thought." The timber of the voice had changed, became harsher. "You thought that since we were different, we'd understand each other all the better, right? That good old Uncle Drew just might be someone that you could confide in, tell your fears and secrets to, right?"

The man was practically raving now. Shego was too frightened to move.

"Oh, YES, I am certainly DIFFERENT now! And I UNDERSTAND everything all too well!" There was a long and violent laugh. Even the beefy man holding the door open looked uncomfortable. Shego felt that she had no other recourse.

"May I please come in and talk?"

"NO!" The refusal hit her like a slap across the face, but he wasn't finished with her yet.

"You are DIFFERENT, but are you SPECIAL? I only have time for SPECIAL people these days, so unless you are SPECIAL, I'm afraid that we have nothing more to talk about!" Understanding that this was an order, the beefy man began to close the door.

"Wait! I…"

"Good day!" The door was slammed for a third and final time. Shego started shaking so bad that she fell back against the wall and slid down to the ground. The sobs wracked her chest so hard that she felt her ribs might crack. Tears burned her cheeks and she was blind and deaf to the world.

She sat there for a long time before forcing herself to stand. There was no activity around her and she was alone, no one was here to care or care for her. Without a plan or any conscious thought, she moved aimlessly across the deserted parking lot until she almost ran straight into a telephone booth.

Was this a sign? Did the Fates want her to call home and let the Possibles come and get her, to take her back?

How can they take you back? They don't want you. They have a perfect daughter.

Suddenly that man-made construct of metal and glass came to represent all of the weakness and failure that she felt about herself; to call home was to admit defeat, to bend under the strain of as many personal demons that a five year old mind can create.

Fists clenched, Shego felt the hate and fear and despair build. Her hands tingled.

She opened her eyes to see a thin veil of green flame flowing over her hands like gloves, and its eerie glow coruscating across her chest and arms. The last time she had looked upon this, her beloved sister had almost died. The self-hate continued to grow within her, and the strength of the green flame shone brighter with every second.

Desperate to get it away from her, Shego cupped her hands together as if to brush the energy away. As she did so, she felt it coalesce, to gain mass and resistance in her fingers. Sensing that she might now be able to toss it away like a used rag, she thrust out her hands and breathed a sigh of relief when the new born ball of glowing green energy flew out of her hands and struck the telephone booth.

Seconds later, she was inspecting herself for cuts after thousands of tiny shards of melted glass and twisted steel had gone flying in all directions; her hearing had also been replaced by a giant soundless vacuum that was slowly giving way to regular ambient noise.

The flames were out, but she felt as if she'd known what she was doing that time; that their generation wasn't exactly random. She could do it again if she wanted to.

Shego started walking back to the closed door. She'd show them just how 'special' she really was.

The Possible home had now become the center of operations for locating Shego. It had been several hours without a call or sighting of her anywhere. Kim had called all of her friends and even some of Shego's classmates and no one knew where the girl was. Anne had been calling every hospital and morgue and they had nothing to tell her either.

John was arguing with the Middleton police over how long someone must be 'missing' to be officially 'missing'.

All the while, her parents kept asking Kim if Shego had said anything to her last night, if they'd discussed anything that might have led to this. Kim continually told them that no, they hadn't, and that no one wanted Shego back more than she did.

This constant questioning did give Kim an idea. She waited until her parents were occupied and then ran upstairs to see if she could find Shego's diary. The pale girl rarely went a day without making several entries, and Kim thought that she knew where her sister was hiding it these days.

Kim had first found the diary a few years ago and Shego had been madder than her sister had ever seen Shego get when Kim had been caught reading it. Kim hadn't read much, but there were a few things in there that made her worry a little about her big sister.

Sure enough, she found the book and checked the last few entries before she hit pay dirt, of a sort.

"Dad, who's Drew Lipsky?"

"What's that Kimmie-cub? Drew? Gracious, I haven't thought about him in ages." John was leafing through the phonebook, looking for more authorities that he could contact. "Why, sweetheart?"

It was here that Kim told her first intentional lie to her parents; she could not risk them reading the diary and seeing the entries that Kim had once read.

"I think I say his name written on one of Shego's old birthday cards."

"Wow, that's strange. Anne!" John called out to his wife. "Drew Lipsky hasn't called here, has he?"

"I should say not! And he'd better never do so either!" Anne replied from the next room.

"So what's the sitch, Dad?" John was very tired from the stress of worrying over his little girl; he took advantage of this distraction to rest his head in his hands and close his eyes for a minute.

"Well, Drew and I were old college buddies. We even worked at the propulsion center for a while. Then I got the administrative directorship and he was ejected for using unsafe experimental practices and falsifying some data." John raised his face; his eyes were glazed as he sorted through his memories.

"The last I'd heard of him, he'd been performing another experiment, probably using himself as a test subject, had a terrible accident and was injured both physically and mentally. Kim, Drew Lipsky is bad news; never go near him." John resumed leafing through the phonebook.

As Kim returned to her room to change clothes, she committed the address to memory that she had seen written beside Drew Lipsky's name in the diary. In the back of her closet, she removed an outfit similar to Shego's, except that the midriff-bearing shirt was black and the cargo pants were olive drab.

"EXCELLENT! Oh, this is OUTSTANDING!" The safe had been constructed from one of the most durable metals known to man; now it was a puddle of molten slag.

The interior of the deserted storefront at the abandoned strip mall was just that: deserted. But the basement level beneath the empty room was amazing. Every known device for testing, scanning, tabulating and calculating was mounted against every foot of surface area, and machines that Shego had never seen before were around every corner.

For the past several hours Uncle Drew had instructed his men to locate and assemble collections of different materials; piles of bricks, ceramics, metals, and glass had been destroyed one by one under the glowing fire from Shego's hands.

"My dear, you ARE special, aren't you?" Uncle Drew was still a little manic, but he was now speaking to her like he had all those years ago; patient and friendly, not wanting to scare her away. The voice helped, but his appearance was still intimidating.

Upon entering the building, Shego had immediately displayed her power by blasting away a section of the roof. Uncle Drew's men had run for cover, but he simply let the debris fall around him, giggling like mad. Since then, he'd had her test her power again and again. Shego was frightened at first, but he'd assured her that there was nothing wrong in doing something that she was able to do naturally.

"Oh, don't fret, my child! I'm all too aware of your history! Having been exposed to the meteor fragment as you were, I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised!"

In addition to the physical changes he had undergone, Drew was dressed in a distorted style of a scientist; his insulated gloves were black and his long lab coat was a deep, lustrous shade of blue.

"After all, it's better when things match, is it not?" He was indicating her green and black outfit as he said this.

It was when she'd finally punched a hole through steel plating that she started to feel excited about using her ability.

"Well, not actually 'punched', my dear. More like 'vaporized upon impact'.

Uncle Drew eventually had her stop and sat her down while he reviewed the results of his scans. He returned to explain to her that she was generating a frequency of super-heated plasma, so strong and powerful that it could destroy or weaken most earthly substances.

"But, Uncle Drew, how…?"

"DO NOT CALL ME BY THAT NAME!" Shego cowered slightly under the brunt of this verbal attack. He scowled at her for a moment, and then seemed to collect himself.

"Please forgive me, Princess, but my past is so troubled that it pains me to hear my own name." He turned his eyes to her, now sad and wet. "I've begun using a different name in dealing with my current business endeavors."

"So what should I call you?" This was getting much too weird for Shego, but the sixteen-year-old girl could see no other future except what she could make with this man.

"Well, you can call me DRAKKEN! Dr. Drakken to be precise."

"Riiigght." She was learning fast that the best was to talk to the man was to humor him.

"Together… not to sound too melodramatic, you know… you and I can RULE THE WORLD!" Hands thrust skyward, he laughed that maniacal laugh that she'd heard far too many times that day for this man to be right in the head.

"Drakken and the mighty Shego! How does that sound?"

"It sounds a little like 'Dark and Nightshade'."

"AHH! A Bradbury fan! GOOD for YOU!" How could the man's eyes shine like that? It was unearthly.

Kim peddled her bike as fast as she could, narrowly missing a few street signs and mailboxes as she navigated the deserted streets of this economically depressed section of Middleton. The deserted strip mall was just up ahead and she wanted to get there as fast as possible.

Ostensibly to ride around their school and the library and mall to search for Shego, her parents had allowed her to invest the early evening hours in this manner of search as long as she took her Kimmunicator with her. The twelve-year-old promised to be home before full dark, and she hoped that she hadn't lied to her parents twice in one day. If it meant finding her big sister, she'd gladly accept being grounded.

It seemed almost funny to chain her bike up when the area seemed so abandoned, but Kim had passed the remains of a telephone booth that looked like it had been hit by a mortar shell. Who knew what dangerous sort of people prowled this area?

Kim approached the storefront of the address she'd memorized and checked the door; it was locked tight, just as she had suspected. How was she to gain entrance? Looking back at the pylon she'd chained her bike to, she saw that it supported an awning that ran across the entire face of the strip mall. Kim drew on a pair of thick, non-slip traction gardening gloves and shimmied up the pylon. Swinging up onto the awning, she quickly noticed that the address she'd sought had huge gaping holes in its roof.

She pulled out a balaclava to cover her bright red hair; she could forget any attempts at stealth since her hair would stand out like a beacon in the darkened room beneath her. Kim carefully crawled to the edge of one hole and looked down. She noted lengths of supports for the metal ceiling plates, each one designed like a horizontal ladder and looking very strong. Kim found these perfect for climbing along the ceiling to the inner wall, where she shimmied down another support girder to the floor.

A muted klaxon began to sound a warning inside the basement lair.

"NUTS! Just as I was getting to the good part of my plan!" Shego watched as her Uncle Drew, or rather 'Dr. Drakken', threw a caliper at one of his men and pounded his fists on a workbench. For the last half hour, the man had been expounding to Shego on the capabilities of his invention. The machine before them looked like an enormous satellite dish with a focusing laser projecting up from it. The machine hummed with power.

"With THIS device, I will IONIZE the upper ATMOSPHERE, creating unwarranted PRECIPITATION, deafening SONIC percussions and VAST fields of ELECTRICAL discharge!"

"So, you're going to make a thunderstorm?" This was a weather machine?

"Well, let's see YOU make one!" Observing that she could not do so, he gave a self-satisfying grunt and returned to the finer points of his plan. The klaxon interrupted him and he whirled to Shego.

"You! This will be the final test of just how special you are!" He located a button and slammed his fist down on it. The access elevator to the ground level activated.

"Go see who it is and get rid of them!"

"But, how do you want me to do that?" So far, she had just blasted and melted construction materials; did he expect her to use her power on a person? That would kill them!

Dr. Drakken had nothing of the man she'd once called 'Uncle Drew' left in his eyes when he slowly turned on her. Shego had spent the afternoon displaying powers that could render this man's body to a charred ruin, and yet he was able to terrify her with a glance.

"I don't care, JUST DO IT!"

Shego ran for the elevator if for no other reason to get away from this madman.

Kim heard the floor open up behind her in the darkness and slid behind an empty cardboard box to keep out of sight. She had walked around the inside of the big empty room and had guessed that there was some other area that she'd not located yet, but eventually would. Since the noise sounded like a freight elevator, she knew that her guess had been right.

The shadowy figure crept through the darkness; Kim couldn't make out any details but this had to be someone who knew where her sister was! A deep voice came out of the darkness.

"You'd better leave now if you know what's good for you!" Shego masked her voice as best she could to make it sound deeper and more masculine. No one was going to be scared away by someone with only a Learner's Driving Permit!

"Nothing doing! Where is Shego?" Kim cupped her hands around her mouth to give it more resonance; no way would her squeaky voice intimidate any body!

Shego froze, her heart turning into a dead lump of coal in her chest. They'd found her; somehow her parents had found her and were going to make her pay for what she'd done to their Kimmie-cub. Her powers were now under her complete control; she ignited the plasma fields around her hands and moved towards the unseen intruder. The green glow made her stand out like a specter.

"Spooky chick?"

"Kimber-dweeb?"

They stared at each other in shock, but only for a few seconds before the floor collapsed under their feet and they fell into oblivion.

Shego awoke with a humming in her ears and flashes of light in her eyes. She was leaning against a wall down in the lair while Drakken and his men continued to perform calibrations on his weather machine. The humming was from the machine itself as it gained strength, greedily sucking power from some unseen source. The lights were from tiny arcs of electricity that covered the main housing of the machine as it towered over them all.

Looking down at herself, Shego noticed that her outfit was torn in several places but that she was unharmed. This made no sense because she could look overhead and see that she and Kim had fallen ten feet or more.

KIM! Where was she?

Drakken had seen her moving and looked at her with mad glee.

"Sorry, my dear! We're on something of a tight schedule, so I decided to use just a tiny bit of this machine's power to smash the floor above to powder!" He chuckled for a moment, but then became serious. "Or should that be 'ceiling below'? Oh, never mind."

Pulling herself to her feet, Shego staggered over to Drakken and stood next to him; he looked her over and mused.

"Interesting! When this little drama is over we really should test your recuperative and healing capabilities. You don't seen to have a scratch on you!" He lifted his chin to point in the direction of the machine. "That little girl over there didn't fair quite as well!"

Kim was trussed with chains against a stanchion supporting the massive device; she appeared to be unconscious and Shego saw cuts and bruises on her sister's head and arms. There was a thin rivulet of blood on Kim's forehead.

"I do NOT know and do NOT care who that is, but WITNESS as she becomes the FIRST casualty to my machine!" The tiny arcs of electricity were increasing in number and power, and occasionally one would connect with the stanchion and Kim would twitch slightly.

"But… that's my sister!"

"Your what?" Drakken didn't seem insane any more; all signs of madness where gone, replaced by utter confusion.

"That's Kim Possible, my… baby sister."

"Do you mean to tell me that SHE is another DAUGHTER of John and Anne POSSIBLE?"

"…yes."

"PERFECT! Don't you SEE? We don't need to wait for the MACHINE to take care of her! YOU can do it?"

"What?"

"You will KILL her! Fry her to ASHES with your AMAZING power! That is how you can finally CUT yourself LOOSE from that family!"

"But, she's my SISTER!"

"I don't care of she is your LOVER, I command you to KILL her!"

Immeasurable power was slowly building inside the heart of the device, and her little sister was right there next to it. Suddenly, Kim was the little red-haired infant sleeping in her crib; the vigilant but powerless Panda-Roo standing guard while the flames crept closer for a deadly kiss.

"Uncle Drew, that is SICK and WRONG!"

Using all of the athletic skills that she'd learned but denied herself, Shego leapt at the devise and ignited her plasma. She slashed at the chains and they parted like spider webs; Kim started to collapse to the floor. Just as quickly, the plasma was extinguished and Shego ran for the freight elevator, Kim draped over her shoulder.

"STOP THEM!"

Drakken's voice cut through the chaos that was building in the air. Shego could see his men everywhere, their mouths were hard lines and their eyes were like stone as they contemplated murder.

"Shego, you can put me down."

The pale girl almost dropped her sister when she heard Kim's voice. The red head looked a little worse for wear but her color was good and none of the cuts were bleeding anymore, not even the one on her head. She felt so light in Shego's arms and looked so tiny and helpless, that Shego never wanted to let her go.

"Please, I'm Ok, really." Doubtful at first, Kim was allowed to stand on her own feet and quickly proved that she really had regained some of her strength.

"Kimmie, I…" Kim shushed her big sister with a finger across the pale lips.

"It's Ok, we can talk about it later." She looked around at the men encircling them. "Is this as bad as it looks?"

"It's definitely worse than a few school yard bullies, that's for sure."

Kim gestured at Shego's hands; they were still glowing and rife with deadly energy.

"How well can you control that stuff? Can we fight our way out of here?"

"Well, I can." Shego looked at the petite form of her little sister. "But you'd better stay behind me."

"No way! I didn't take all those after school martial arts classes for nothing! Watch this!"

Kim ran right at a massive bruiser standing in front of her. Before Shego could react, Kim had jumped at him and kicked him in the groin; when he doubled over in pain, she clocked him across the jaw with her two fists locked together.

"Wow!" Shego was impressed. "But you stay right on my tail or I'll tell Mom!"

"That'll be easy… your tail is certainly wide enough!" Kim blew her a raspberry.

Together the two girls waded through attacking thugs until they'd reached the elevator. Shego made limited use of her power, because she just couldn't bring herself to really hurt anyone; instead she blasted holes in the floor to trip their attackers, or to slice through any weapon that came within reach.

Kim climbed onto the platform and Shego was right behind her when something struck her in the back of the head and thoroughly rang her chimes. She blinked away the pain and barely had time to reflect that maybe he did heal faster than other people, when she saw Drakken standing over her, a length of twisted pipe in his hands. He raised it above her, preparing to strike.

Shego raised her hands to blast him, but the plasma didn't appear.

"SHEGO, you are FIRED!"

Two feet flew through the air over Shego's head and Kim Possible planted them right in the center of Drakken's chest; he fell back and hit the floor, insensate. Kim picked herself up and quickly helped Shego onto the platform. Shego was already feeling much better and asked Kim to wait as her younger sister was about to hit the button to take them up.

"Hold on Kimmie, we can't let that Drakken keep that machine."

Drakken had regained consciousness and, as he sat up, the first thing he saw was a massive field of plasma heading straight for him. He screamed and rolled out of the way, taunting his teenaged foes as he did so.

"HAH! You MISSED!"

"No, I did NOT!"

"Huh?"

The plasma sphere hurled across the basement lair and struck the heart of the machine. Key instruments ceased to properly regulate the balance of electron flow and the energies were suddenly being released in an uncontrollable manner. The metal walls buckled and the concrete floor shattered as the device created a thunderstorm right down there in the basement.

"Drakken, I quit!" Shego kissed her little sister on the nose. "Kimmie, let's get out of here!"

"You got it, spooky!"

Once reaching the ground floor, it was nothing for Shego to make the locked door a footnote. Explosions shock the ground around them and they found that they could not keep their feet; they tripped and held each other close as that entire section of the strip mall collapsed into a maelstrom of uncontrolled force. The devastation limited to the immediate vicinity, however, so no one else was in danger.

Just before the final blast brought the whole structure down, the sisters saw something float up from the wreckage and pass over their heads.

"You think you're ALL THAT, Shego Possible, but you're NOT!" Then, it was over.

The sisters lay together on the dirty asphalt while they caught their breath, wiping grit from their eyes and hair, and Kim looking in the direction of the demolished lair.

"I think my bike just got totaled."

"Doy! Kimmie, I'll buy you a new bike!"

"Thanks. So, this 'Drakken' guy was our Uncle Drew? I don't really remember him, but I'm guessing that he'd changed a bit, right?"

"Yeah. He was around when you were too young to really remember." Shego looked around them; the night was clear and cool, the lights of Middleton brighter in the distance. Kim stood up and brushed herself off.

"Can we go home now?" The question made Shego feel sick all over again.

"Kimmie, I don't know if I can." Kim just looked at her, arms crossed.

"I mean, there's something that I did… long ago, and… Mom and Dad, well…"

Kim reached out and stayed that way until Shego accepted her hands. The smaller girl helped her big sister to stand and gave her a big hug.

"Promise me that you won't get mad." Kim was giving Shego the dreaded pout.

"Ghaa! What's that for? Kimmie, this is serious!"

"Promise me."

"Ok! Ok, I promise. What is it?"

"I read your diary." Kim's hug became tighter as Shego's knees buckled.

"Then, you know?"

"I read what you wrote about the fire, yes."

"It was my fault that you got burned." Shego was sobbing now, the tears flowing freely. "That scar on your back is because of me! My hand! I almost killed you! You almost burned to death!"

Kim was shaking her head, much to Shego's amazement.

"What I know is that you have enormous power, but that a five year old would have no more chance of controlling that power than the man in the moon! I also know that it was that same five year old girl who risked herself to pull a baby out of a burning crib." Kim reached out and held her sister's face. "Didn't you think that Mom and Dad would be proud enough to tell me what you did?"

"But they don't KNOW!" Shego was in serious danger of having her psyche crumble beneath the weight of guilt and shame. Kim let Shego lay across her legs and cry while Kim made a short call on her Kimmunicator.

Their father came to collect them; he was there in no time at all and was loaded with questions. Kim did her best to ward him off, leading Shego into the car and sitting with her in the back seat while they returned home. John hung back while Kim and Shego entered the house and Kim greeted their mother. Anne could barely contain herself and had burning questions of her own, but those were immediately discarded when she saw how both girls were wearing tattered clothing and Kim showed signs of minor lacerations.

"Kimberly Ann Possible, what on Earth has happened to you two?"

"Um, I had an accident on my bike. It kind of got totaled."

Anne already had the first aid kit out and was dabbing antiseptic at the small wounds. Shego was sitting quietly at the dining room table, looking as if she were waiting to be shot. John and Anne stole veiled glances at her and John slipped into the kitchen to make his girl some cocoa.

"Where is your helmet? And I see that you aren't wearing those kneepads either. Young lady, starting tomorrow you are grounded for a week!"

Anne was close to tears with relief at the safety of her girls and did her best to keep from smiling as she handed down Kim's punishment. Kim slumped in her chair, more from conditioned response than actual frustration; it would be a small price to pay for her sister. Shego still said nothing.

When their parents happened to both be out of the dining room at the same time, Kim leaned in.

"Well?"

"I don't think I can do this."

"Please, for them? It's tearing them up inside not knowing why you feel so bad."

"They'll just think it's about the adoption."

"Well, is it?"

"No, not really. That I can deal with. It's just… all the little things that are going to be different because of it."

"What? Tell me what's different now?"

"I'm not their daughter any more. OW!" Kim had slapped her big sister across the back of the head.

"Don't EVER say that again! That's crap!" Voices came to them from the other rooms of the house.

"Kimmie-cub, language."

"Don't you dig that hole any deeper, young lady!"

"Sorry Dad, sorry Mom." Kim looked hard at Shego, not saying another word.

"Mom? Dad? Could you please come in here?" Shego cleared her throat and her parents returned. With worried looks on their faces, they took seats at the table; they were surprised, though only slightly less so than Kim, when Shego lifted her younger sister onto her lap and held her just like her dolly, once upon a time.

"I want to tell you about something." Her voice was hardly above a whisper.

John looked the most pensive and couldn't wait any longer.

"You weren't out with some boy, were you?" Shego began to both laugh and cry at the same time. She held Kim tighter and Kim started to cry too from the release of tension.

"OH, JOHN, HONESTLY!" Anne looked as if she would strike John in the back of his head. John withdrew the question.

Shego looked them square in the eyes and over the next several minutes she told them as much as she could remember of the night so long ago, when a fire had almost claimed the life of their newborn Kim. She told them about Panda-Roo and finding him in the crib, of how a strange power had manifested itself shortly before and how it had been unleashed that night. She also told them that she remembered lying to cover up her shame.

At first her parents looked as if she were telling them about a dream that she'd had, some terrible nightmare spawned from that event when she'd still been a child; how could their beautiful little Princess possibly be the cause of that night? Then Shego gently placed Kim on her own chair and ignited her left hand. All eyes were riveted on the glowing plasma.

"Ever since then, I was afraid that you would find out. That you would know what I did to Kimmie…" Shego turned to Kim and reached for her with her right hand, already finding her younger sister reaching back. "And then when you told me that I was adopted, I thought… I thought," her voice failed her and cracked. "I thought that you wouldn't want me any more."

"Shego please put that out." John's voice was firm and Anne's eyes were bright with unshed tears. This was it; it was all over. Now she would be hated and alone.

"I'm so sorry…" She raised her hands in supplication to beg forgiveness; John and Anne almost ran at her as Shego howled her sorrow like an animal.

Both parents grabbed Shego so hard and so suddenly that she was wrenched up from her chair and held several inches above the floor. Both were weeping and but they were coddling her and kissing her and telling her that everything was all right and that they loved her and that there was nothing to forgive.

That she was the bestest little girl in the world.

The hour was late, or early depending on how you look at it, and everyone was exhausted from a long and stressful day. It had pained John to see one of his girls feel so much anguish that she was crying until her whole body shook, but Anne calmly pointed out that some wounds needed to be cauterized before they can heal. Everyone went to bed that night tired but feeling as if the next day would be worth it.

Upstairs, Kim had taken the old Panda-Roo doll off her shelf and was about to throw it away.

"Wait." Shego motioned for her to stop. "He has scars too. Let him stick around for awhile." Kim smiled and nodded and she handed Panda-Roo to Shego.

"Here, he was yours until you gave him to me. You can have him back."

"No, that's Ok."

"We kicked some major buttage today, didn't we?" That exuberance was still there, even after a day like today. "You know, we could do that sort of thing on a regular basis."

"What? Fight bad guys? Save the world?"

"Yeah! That would be spank'n!"

Shego looked wistful. "Do you think you could… you know… just for tonight?" The sixteen year old look much younger than she really was at that moment.

"Not too old for that, are you?" The twelve year old set Panda-Roo down on her bed and walked across the room to sit on the edge of Shego's bed.

"Please?" Shego's 'puppy dog pout' was as powerful as ever.

"Ghaa! Ok! I submit to the mighty Shego!"

Kim snuggled against her big sister and Shego turned out the light. Before she fell asleep, she leaned down to kiss the scar on Kim's back, such a small thing really, hardly noticeable.

"Goodnight, Kimmie."

"Goodnight, Shego."

The End

This story was written as a token of appreciation for three special people: Apoptosis, Mag (fortheloveofpizza) and Rinacat, in alphabetical order.

Author's Notes:

There have been so many variations of Shego's 'real name' that I have no idea how original mine is. If _you've_ written a story and I've used _your_ name, please excuse the matter as coincidence.

Kim and Shego… no matter how you slice it, they belong together.

Please excuse the 'fat' comments between Kim and Shego; I really have no idea how teenage girls might tease each other.


End file.
